Thursday, October 9, 2014

Chapter 44

"What else?"

"I think Buttface and Mason are trying to do a little CYA and said they
are going to make a counter complaint about the windshield. They say
since I was making such a big deal out of it I was leaving them no choice only
... I'm not ... making a big deal out of it I mean. If I had wanted the
trouble I could have caused it but I've got higher priorities these days."

"How do you know all that?"

"They tried to start something when I drove Uncle Mark and Davis to the
Bait & Tackle to pick up some thick sliced Bologna."

"What does Bologna have to do with fishing?" I asked almost afraid of
the answer I was going to get.

"Bait & Tackle has a deli counter in the back and Uncle Mark wanted
what Uncle Mark wanted and that's all he wanted so Gramps gave me the signal to
get him out from underfoot. You know how Uncle Mark is. Well, Buttface's
office is a couple of doors down from where we were and someone must have
called and told him I was in the area."

"What does he do that he needs an office?"

"A lot of stuff. His main business is wholesale ... parts and things
like that ... but he dabbles in a bunch of stuff. He used to do pretty
well but the economy tanking has hurt him. Don't get me wrong, Buttface
and I, we don't see eye-to-eye on a bunch of stuff but I can't fault him for
how he used to take care of Delly and their kids. He set them up nice.
It's just ... well it isn't any of my business so I'll shut my mouth
about it. Lately though it seems he's let Mason run all over him and he
wasn't like that before only now things are changing and ... like I said, none
of mine."

"So did Delly's husband confront you or what?"

"Sorta. He was out on the side walk talking loud enough about how
something was wrong with me and that he was worried for Delly and his kids and
just being his normal Buttface self. I would have just ignored him but
Davis couldn't keep his mouth shut and told everyone what had really happened.
Well Buttface tries to back track only Davis is like a dog on a scent and
Uncle Mark and I are trying to head him off and just get back to the truck
since we were done with the errand."

"Uh oh."

"Yeah. Only we got lucky and an off-duty deputy had been watching
and it just so happened to be one of those guys who came out that
morning."

"Uh oh twice over."

"No. Actually he set things straight and said that if Buttface really
had a problem he should take it up legally but that he would have to do so with
the understanding that a police report had already been filed on the original
event and that Mason had already confessed to being in the area, in Delly's car
that he "borrowed" with Buttface's say-so, and that he was found to
be pretty well dog-chewed which also fell in line with the story we had given
and that if Buttface had any other facts that countered what they found at the
scene that perhaps he should come in for questioning. Well that shut him
up and gave other people something to talk about. And then along comes
Lisa and her mom coming out of the nail salon."

"Uh ... er ..."

"Nope ...you had it right the first time ... uh oh. You see, as
smart as Lisa's dad is, her mom is a real ditz. I know it isn't nice but
it's the truth. She walked right up to me and gave me a hug, started
spouting all this stuff about forgiveness and I thought Lisa was going to blow
a gasket or sink into the ground, one of the two."

"Wouldn't that be a good thing? Forgiveness I mean ... not the part
where Lisa blows up."

"Yeah, I guess it was and she is a nice woman but more trouble from Lisa's
dad and brother I don't need. I'm trying really hard to get shed of her -
she's kinda touchy feely - and finally she asks me why I'm dancing around well
then Uncle Mark has to stick his two cents in."

"Oh no."

"Oh yes. He says, 'Cause the boy is married Natalie and I guess he's
worried about having to explain why another woman was hugging on him.'
And then she says, 'Married?! Oh I just gotta hear this. Who
is she?' and blah, blippety, blah. Of course Uncle Mark can't wait to put
me on the hot seat and pretty soon we have a crowd and you can bet next church
service we're both going to be swamped with attention."

"Why would anyone care? They didn't care when you were having such a
hard time and they didn't care about Mr. Baffa needing help around this place
and they sure as heck didn't act like I existed before? Why are they
suddenly going to start caring?"

"Because people are always looking for ways to distract themselves from
their own personal misery. They gotta get into other people's misery to
make themselves feel better."

"Are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Miserable."

"What? Oh ... well ... that didn't come out very smart did it.
And the answer is definitely not. It was just a saying."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"What else happened?"

"Isn't that enough?"

"Well ... I mean ... you just made it sound like ... I suppose it was a
hard day. But if that was lunch what happened after lunch that has kept
you so tied up in knots?"

Sawyer opened his mouth to answer me then stopped and leaned his head back.
"Me is what happened. I was so stressed out all I could do was
make dumb mistakes or get irritated at all the normal little crappy things that
happen during a work day. Davis wouldn't stop picking at me. Uncle
Mark kept lecturing. Gramps' arthritis is bothering him and it made him
... well ... less than as sympathetic as I had expected him to be. Then
having to explain what happened to everyone that kept interrupting me from
getting my work done. It was doggone hot in that silo and there were
enough rats in there that needed killing to make even the dogs get bored with
their job and they love killing rats just about better than chasing the barn
cats."

"That's a lot right?"

"You better believe it is and ... and ... well all I wanted to do was to
tell everyone they could shove it and come home to you 'cause I know you are on
my side. You might not understand everything but you're absolutely on my
side."

I wasn't quite sure how to take that but I could see he didn't need me asking
whether he meant I was stupid or just didn't understand all the details and
what they could mean ... a different kind of stupid. And even though I
don't know much about guys I do know that one bit of wisdom that old Mrs.
Brinser imparted to me that has proven itself true is that they tend to chew on
their own feet a lot by which she meant they are constantly putting their feet
in their mouths.

Finally, when he seemed all give out with his story of his terrible day, I
pushed myself off the floor and told him, "Well I can't change what
happened but how about you go shower and I fix you a plate of dinner, cold glass
of sweat tea, and you sit at the table and fix those rabbit ears so you can
watch that sports whatever that you wanted to watch. And when you are
finished you can have a couple of slices of cherry or peach pie ... or one of
each ... whichever you want."

"Give me a hand up?" When I did though he rubbed all over me.
"Ooops. Looks like I got you all dirty. Now you need a
shower too."

He smelled really bad and I was trying to find some enthusiasm but apparently
he had enough for both of us both during the shower and afterwards.

2 comments:

I'm sorry, I'm sorry ... I know it was just a typo but he was having Such a bad and she's going to give him "SWEAT tea" I know you meant SWEET tea but ... well, it just made me laugh and laugh ... and it has been a while since I've really laughed ...